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ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT 



THE CELEBRATION 



OF THE 



altle of p00re's €xttk Sr%, 



FEBRUARY 27TH, 1S51: 



BY 



JOSHUA G. WRIGHT, ESQ. 




WILMINGTON, N. C: 
FULTON & PRICE, STEAM POWER PRESS PRINTERS* 

185T. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



WmoNGTON, April 20lli, 1857. 
b&AR Sir ■.■—'the undersigned respectfully request for publication, a copy of the eloquent and inter- 
esting Address delivered by you upon the occasion of the late celebration of the Battle of Moore's 
Creek Bridge. 

In making this request, the undersigned but express the unanimous wish of all who had the pleas- 
ure of hearing you, and the great desire of numbers who were not so fortunate. And adding their 
own personal soUcitalious that you will consent to the publication. 
They are, very respectfully, 

Your Ob't Serv'ts, 

Wif. S. A.SHE, 1 

f^^r^r"^'' \ com-"'-- 

GEORGE DXXIB, J 
J. G, Wright, Esq. 



WiUDNCTON, April 21st, 1857. 
Gentlemen : — Your note soliciting a copy of my recent Address for publication, has been received, 
t very cheerfully comply with your request, and only rcgi'et that the Address was not more worthy 
of the occasion on which it was delivered. 

With my thanks for the opinion you express of its merits, and with a grateful appreciation of your 
kindness, 

1 am very truly. 

Your Ob't Serv'tj 

JOSHUA G. WRIGHT. 
Messrs. Wm. P. Ashe, John L. Holmes, F. J. Hux, Geo. Davis, Committee. 



t-'] 
M^":^' 



ADDRESS. 



The pilgrimage of patriotism is accomplished ! The pious 
purpose which has ruled the hearts of this vast multitude is 
fulfilled, and we stand on hallowed ground. Again we gather 
around that altar of freedom long since erected by our gallant 
forefathers in this temple made by God's own hands, and 
again we give to that altar the offerings of our filial devotion. 

I bid you welcome, my countrymen, thrice welcome to a 
scene so rich in its traditionary renown, and around which 
still lingers the glory of a feat of arms, which nobly heralded 
the greater glory of your country's freedom. I congratulate 
you on the advent of another anniversary of a day long can- 
onized in the historic calendar, and which should ever be hailed 
with the proudest memories that can swell the heart of the 
patriot. I rejoice, men of North Carolina, to meet you here 
to-day, for my mission is to speak of the virtue, the valor and 
the fame of those with whom you claim lineage, and to kindle 
alike your gratitude and your pride by rehearsing the deeds 
of that high heroic ancestry of which you were born. 

Well does it become us thus to assemble to do honor to a 
day and a deed so eminently worthy of our commemorative 
homage. For full four-score years has this spot, early conse- 
crated to patriotism, rested amid these woods in undistin- 
guished repose, unhonoured by any formal festivity, untrodden 
by any pilgrim crowd; and seldom has the deed whicli hallows 
it, been made the theme of patriotic encomium. It may be 
that the departed brave of the olden time need no such cele- 
bration as we have recently inaugurated and is now repeated 
on the ground which soaked their gore— it may be that their 



4 

Yalor and their virtues are so framed in our memories that 
we never can forget them. But they deserve to be honored 
otherwise and elsewhere than in our hearts, and to those who 
have given signal blessings to their country, signal honours 
ever have been and ever should be rendered. Hence it is, 
that in all ages and in all climes, alike the heathen shrouded 
in his dark mythology and the christian rejoicing in the 
light of the true God, have caused the column and the ceno- 
taph to ascend in honour of their illustrious dead. In song 
and story, with ceremonial celebration and with monumental 
marble, they have appealed to the national heart and made 
it the sanctuary to enshrine the memory of their heroes and 
the great events of their history. Promj)ted by a kindred 
feeling and guided by the fires of patriotism, ere while kindled 
among these sacred precincts, we are again assembled to in- 
dulge in grateful recollections of an event which has given 
renown to the scene on which we gaze, and undying fame to 
those whose deeds have made it classic ground. And now 
that I stand before you, how impotent do I feel on the thresh- 
old of that great theme on which you have commissioned me 
to speak. Would that I could address myself to it in a 
manner worthy of the exploit you celebrate. Would that I 
could strike '*" the harp of this celebration," with such expres- 
sive power as to exalt your souls to the loftiest harmonies 
with that great event which it commemorates. But why 
should I fear. Aided as I am by the sustaining power of 
Buch a theme, I doubt not but that you will " hear me for 
my cause," and addressing as I do those who are no bastards 
to the blood here shed for the land they live in, I know that 
blood itself will speak for me. 

I open to you the volume of my country's history, wherein 
is written the story of the tyrannies and trials which were 
practiced and endured, before those great battles of liberty 
were fought, which made that country gloriously free and 
independent. From its pages I learn how the minions of 
royalty made our own North Carolina alike their vassal and 
their victim, until, by reiterated aggression on her dear- 
est rights, she was goaded to rebellion. For ten long years 



we had remonstrated against the ungenerous and unconsti- 
tutional legislation of that power which claimed the right to 
rule us, and which sent its edicts over the water to degrade 
and destroy us. But our appeal and our protest, though 
armed with all the force which justice and humanity could 
impart to them, failed to reach the inexorable ear of tyranny. 
Not enough was it that the tyrannous tax was imposed — that 
appropriations were refused for the relief of the colony — that 
the courts of justice were closed against our citizens in the 
assertion of their legitimate rights — that flagitious extortions 
were practiced by the official lacqueys of the representatives 
of royalty, nor yet enough that standing armies were quar- 
tered among us to overawe and despoil us; but even the 
sanctity of our homes was invaded, and alike in person and 
in property, we were made to feel that we were the victims 
of an oppression, from which no deliverance could come to us 
but such as our own stout hearts and strong arms could ac- 
complish. Time rolled on, and with it can^e the avenging 
spirit of an indignant people. Already had it blazed out 
brilliantly in the streets of Wilmington in the famous Stamp 
Act Sedition, and lighted the beacons of rebellion not only 
on the waters of the Cape Fear, but in every town and 
hamlet, and homestead, in the Province. Already had it 
withstood the tyrannous Tryon of execrable memory, and 
well named the Wolf of North Carolina, when he licked his 
red chops, as he thought of his prey, and made them redder in 
the blood ol complaining citizens on the corpse-covered field 
of Alamance. Everywhere this spirit was defiantly devel- 
oped; the blood of the patriots was up, and bravely did their 
hearts beat to arms. 

It is not for me, however, nor is this the occasion to indulge 
in an elaborate detail of the events which marked the revo- 
lutionary progress of our country, though it would be no 
difficult matter to dwell on them until the shadows of even- 
ing had lengthened around us. I am not here to usurp the 
province of the annalist, whose more appropriate task it is to 
tell the story of our wrongs, and to recite the deeds which 
emblazoned our national escutcheon with a splendor that 



time can never dim. I invite your attention, as more par- 
ticularly connected with this occasion, to that great epoch in 
our history known as the invasion of I'TTG — an invasion de- 
signed to qiiell the rebellious spirit of the colonists, and to 
give hack to him who claimed to he by divine right their 
master, a rene\red and undisputed dominion over their lib- 
erties. 

In the month of January of the year just named, a gallant 
vessel might have been seen proudly riding at her anchorage 
on the tranquil bosom of the river Cape Fear. The flag that 
floated from her mast head— the garb worn by those who 
manned her, and the bristling cannon that looked out omi- 
nously from either side of her gundeck, would soon have told 
an attentive observer^ that her character was such as boded 
no good, in the then excited condition of the Province, to the 
dwellers on the shores of that stream on which she now 
reposed. And with truthful conjecture might he so have 
thought. That vessel was His Majesty's sloop of war Cruiser, 
alike the home and the refuge of Josiah Martin, the last of 
the Koyal Governors of North Carolina. Having fled from 
his Palace in Newbern, which he had vainly endeavored to 
fortify, lie at once sought the better protection which he sup- 
posed was to be found behind the guns of Fort Johnston. 
— While here, however, the eagle-eyed vigilance of the 
patriots of the Cape Fear marked well liis movements, 
and soon they detected him not only engaged in his former 
work of erecting fortifications, to hedge about the divinity 
which attached to himself as the representative of the Lord's 
anointed Avhom lie served, but also in a barbarously flagitious 
eflbrt to excite and arm the servile portion of our people 
against their masters. At once the bold resolution was 
taken to dislodge him from his " forted fastness." — And now 
there appeared on the stage of action one who perhaps did 
more to kindle and keep ever burning the fires of freedom, 
than any other man of that perilous period. That man was 
Col. John Ashe, afterwards known as Gen. Ashe, and for him 
I challenge the admiration and gratitude of the men of New 
Hanover and of all North Carolina. As the thunderbolt is 



said to be the child of the storm, so he may well be consid- 
ered as the most chivalric spirit born of the Eevolution, and 
appropriately named the Percy of his day. As eloquent as 
he was patriotic, he " wielded at will the fierce democracy " 
of his times, and when at an earlier period he had made the 
tyrant Tryon tremble in the war waged against the Stamp 
Act, he fixed his fame as one of the most gallant souls that 
ever defied and conquered tyranny. At the time of which I 
speak, he held the rank of Colonel under the Koyal Govern- 
ment, but as soon as the guilty machinations of Martin were 
discovered he resigned his commission. Instantly, by popular 
election, he was elevated to the same rank, and was the first 
man who had boldly braved the Koyal favour, by taking a 
commission from the people whom he deemed the right- 
ful sovereigns of the country. So commissioned he at once 
led on a regiment raised on his own responsibility, and for 
the payment of which he had jDledged his private estate, to 
the attack of Fort Johnston; and soon was the work of de- 
molition accomplished by the torch which he applied with his 
own hand, while the routed Governor fled precipitately from 
the invasion of the foe, to the receiving embrace of the Cruiser. 
From this last strong hold of Royalty, he sent forth, on the 
10th day of January, ITYS, a Proclamation declaring as un- 
natural the rebellion then existing, and announcing his 
intention "to erect His Majesty's standard, and to collect and 
unite his Majesty's people under the same, with a free tender 
of forgiveness, however, of past offences to all who would join 
heart and hand to restore the Government." 

Simultaneously with this Proclamation, and as auxiliary 
to its purpose, there went forth a commission to Allan Mc- 
Donald, Donald McDonald, Alexander McLeod, and numerous 
other leading men in a continuous chain of counties from 
Cumberland to Rowan, to erect the King's standard and to 
muster and array in arms His Majesty's loyal subjects, with 
instructions to meet His Excellency at Brunswick, on the 15 th 
of the following February, where he designed effecting a 
union with the forces of Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Corn- 
wallis. And right speedily was the behest obeyed. It came 

B 



8 

joyously to the ears of those Highland clans who were anx- 
ious to signalize their devotion to the House of Hanover and 
regain the Royal favor, lost when they fought for the Pretend- 
er, Scotland's " rightful sovereign," on the hloody field of 
Culloden. Strangers to our soil, little did they feel of that 
inbred love of country which glowed so warmly in the breasts 
of our people ; and little did they know how that feeling would 
nerve the arms and animate the hearts of the sons of Carolina, 
when in the approaching day of battle they should call upon 
each other to 

"Strike till the last armed foe expires, 
Strike lor their altars and their fires, 
Strike for the green graven of their sires, 
God and Iheir native land.'' 

Aided then as was the Royal cause, not only by the alien 
origin of the clans and their hopes of pardon for the past, but 
by kindred sympathies, such as only the clannish spirit can 
engender, we may well suppose that their commissioned 
leaders found but little difficulty in mustering them beneath 
the unfurled banner of King George. When called upon to 
step forward and draw their broad swords as their forefathers 
had often done in defence of their King — when in addition to 
the appeals of their chieftains, the loyal lady — Flora McDonald 
— whose blended beauty and historic fame gave her such magic 
mastery over men as to make her almost irresistible, wooed 
them as she did to the cause of her sovereign — when the 
martial strains of the pibroch thrilled upon their ears and 
waked to extacy the chivalrous memories of their Highland 
homes, they started at the summons as if it had been a bugle 
blast blown by their Wallace or their Bruce, in the cause of 
their own dear Caledonia. 

" They came as the winds como when forests are rendcd, 
They came as the waves come when navies are stranded." 

Nor was this all, for with them came the rascal tory — 
traitor to the holy cause of liberty — traitor to his country 
and traitor to the God who gave tliat country. 

Let it not be supposed, however, that the Patriots of the 
Province were meanwhile listless observers of these move- 
ments. It is true that the bold spirits of the Cape Fear and 



tiie Neuse caiiglit but little alarm from tlie Proclamation of 
the Governor, and tliey were no longer intimidated by tbe 
edicts of tyranny, wliether they issued from the Royal Palace^ 
or bore the imprimatur of His Excellency when protected by 
the guns of His Majesty's sloop of war Cruiser. No sooner, 
however, was the organization of the Highland host and 
their base confederates on the banks of Cross Creek, in the 
County of Cumberland, known to the country than her 
patriotic sons sprang to the rescue. The plough was left in 
the unfinished furrow — the wife girded the sword on her 
husband, and the boy who had scarce put on the "toga 
virilis" of freedom, first took his mother's farewell blessing, 
and then went forth with mature manhood to resist the 
coming foe. Led on by Brigadier Gen'l James Moore, whose 
heroic heart and consummate skill as a strategist well quali- 
fied him for the leadership of such forces, they at once moved 
forward to the rendezvous of the Royalists, and being rein- 
forced by Colonels Lillington, Ashe and Kenan, with their 
respective commands, they encamped at Rockfish, about eight 
miles from the enemy. While here, a letter bearing date the 
19th of February, 1T76, was received by Genl Moore from 
Gen. Donald McDonald, the chosen leader of the Royalists, 
informing him that unless his forces joined the Royal stand- 
ard by 12 o^clock on the ensuing day^, they would be regarded 
as enemies, while at the same time the royal clemency was 
promised to all who would accept it. Promptly was the an- 
swer returned, that the patriots were engaged "in a cause the 
most glorious and honorable in the world, and in support of 
which they were determined to sacrifice every thing that was 
dear and valuable." 

When the morning of the 20th of February rose on that 
modest stream on the banks of which rested the Highland 
forces and their traitorous allies, it looked down on an army 
of near two thousand men, and ere that suu had gone on its 
westering way beneath the horizon, that army was on its 
march against the defenders of liberty. Unquestionably its 
purpose was to force the encampment of Gen'l Moore and 
move onward to Wilmington. But few miles, however, did 



10 

they proceed in the execution of this design ere they discov- 
ered his strength, and retracing their steps, crossed at Camp- 
helton to the eastern side of the river. They had found the 
lion in their way, and they left him in his lair. No sooner, 
however, was this retrograde movement known to Gen. Moore, 
than he hurried an express to Col. Caswell, who was marching 
to his aid with about eight hundred men, directing him to 
return and take possession of Corbet's Ferry, on Black River, 
for the purpose of intercepting the enemy, while at the same 
time Colonels Martin and Thackston were ordered to occupy 
Cross Creek and prevent their return in that way. Then or- 
dering Colonels Lillington and Ashe to make a forced march, 
and if possible reinforce Caswell, or failing in that, to possess 
themselves of Moore's Creek Bridge, he at once proceeded with 
the residue of his army to cross the river at Elizabethtown, 
with the hope that he might aid in arresting the progress of 
the Royalists. While here information was received from Col. 
Caswell, that the enemy had crossed Black River about five 
miles above him, and near the same time Col. Lillington, 
with his brave comrades, had taken position on the south side 
of Moore's Creek Bridge — that glorious field of fame which 
we now occupy — and on which he was joined the next day by 
Col. Caswell and his battalion of eight hundred men. Mean- 
while the Royalists- had, with almost equal celerity, hurried 
on their way, and on the same day paused in their march 
about two miles from the bridge. 

And so pausing, doubtless their leader who was a veteran 
in arms, and the flashing of whose claymore had been seen 
on the ill-fated field of Culloden, felt as strong an assurance 
of success in any contest he might have with those whom he 
calumniously called rebels, as at a subsequent day the more 
wUy and bloodthirsty Scotcliman, Ferguson, experienced and 
expressed, when he held his position on King's Mountain, 
which rises so gloriously on your border, and sent from its 
summit his memorable despatch to Cornwallis, saying to him, 
" I hold a position on the King's Mountain, and all the rebels 
out of hell shall not drive me from it" — a despatch, however, 
which was arrested on its way by those brave mountaineers 



11 

who had just rallied to the rescue of their country in the lovely 
valley of the Watauga, and which only served the more to 
strengthen their arms and to fire their hearts, for that contest 
which in the next hour, made red the sides of that mountain 
with the blood of their enemies, and gave to their country a vic- 
tory of imperishable renown — a contest in which the sword of 
liberty lopped off the right arm and secured the defeat and 
capture of one-fourth of Cornwallis' army. 

As soon as the union of the forces of Lillington and Caswell 
was effected, active preparations were made for the reception 
of the enemy. Look around you, my countrymen, and your 
eyes will rest upon the still lingering mementoes of that day's 
work of preparation, and take in a scene, the cardinal features 
of which are now exhibited to your view, just as they met the 
gaze of those chivalric champions of your country, who here 
resolved to do or die in the defence of that country's outraged 
rights and freedom. There is the same stream that went mur- 
muringly on its way to that ocean which had been crossed by 
your invaders — there are the vestiges of the hasty breastwork 
thrown up as a shield against the onslaught of the foe — and 
there is the peninsula on which Lillington and his corps of 
minute men were posted, and where they lay on their arms 
throughout the night which preceded the battle. Such then 
was their condition, and it was all they desired. 

And now the day of the 26th has closed over that embattled 
band of patriots — their camp-fires are lighted — " the sentinel 
stars have set their watch in the sky," and the bivouac of that 
night is made busy on all sides with the note of prepara- 
tion for the foreseen fight of the morrow. That morrow comes, 
and at its earliest dawn the bugle and the bag-pipe sounded 
the summons to the field, and as their war notes were borne 
on the morning breeze through these primeval woods, until 
the sounding shades of every dale and thicket caught the in- 
spiring air, each Highland heart grew braver and bloodier in 
its impulses to the conflict. With quick but steady step a 
serried column of seventy-five stalwart Highlanders, " all 
plaided and plumed in their tartan array," moves forward in 
the advance, led on by their belted chiefs, McLeod and 



12 

Campbell, in the absence of their leader, Donald McDonald, 
whose sickness withheld him from the field. And now when 
they are seen descending yonder slope, a louder bugle blast is 
blown, and in a moment more they crowd the bridge made 
treacherous bj the removal of its covering, and press with 
eagerness to the attack. By some the difficult passage is ac- 
complished, and as they near the American lines not a sound 
is heard, nor is scarce a soldier seen, crouched as our forces 
were behind the breastwork. It was the silence of the storm 
ere the thunderbolt is sped — it was the crouching of the lion 
ere he leaps to his prey. A moment more and the destiny of 
death is upon them. From right to left a blinding blaze of 
fire is poured in upon the advancing column, while the cannon 
commanding the bridge sweeps tlie crowd that throngs it^ 
like an avalanche of remorseless ruin. Their commander, Mc- 
Leod, falls with a score of balls in his body, but even as he 
dies, his voice is heard distinct above the din of battle, cheer- 
ing on his men, and assuring them that America never would 
be free. Campbell, his companion in command, shares his 
fate, but still the bloody contest goes on. In the front of the 
conflict where the storm of war rages fiercest, the gallant form 
of Lillington is seen rising in all its native loftiness of propor- 
tions above all around him, while the trumpet tones of his 
voice are ever ringing out the cheer and the charge to the 
brave competitors for glory in the cause of their country, who 
follow him. At length the creek is crossed by a portion of 
the American forces, and an attack being made on the rear of 
the enemy, they were soon hemmed in by a circle of fire. — 
Thus begirt and thus bereft of their commanders, a general 
panic soon pervades that army of eighteen hundred men — 
terror-stricken they fly from the field, and England's glory is 
in the dust. The war cloud rolls away, and as the morning 
sun looks down again upon that sanguinary plain, there lay 
the plaided warrior and the traitor tory, who had gone down in 
the encounter of death, and their only requiem was the jubi- 
lant shout of joy that went proudly, but gratefully to Heaven 
from the victorious sons of liberty. 
Thus was fought and thus was won, on the 2Tth day of Feb- 



13 

ruary, 17*76, that momentous and memorable battle, the anni- 
versary of which we this day celebrate, and the commemoration 
of which should ever be the perpetual memorial of the triumph 
here achieved. The slain of the enemy is computed at fifty men, 
though doubtless many more fell from the bridge in its then con- 
dition, and received from the avenging tide, that death which 
the ball or bullet would have dealt, and though many on the 
American side were wounded, but one man is known to have 
been lost to the Patriots. That man was John G-rady of Duplin, 
a private in Caswell's regiment^ who won his gallant death by 
an intrepidity which scorned the shield of the breastwork in- 
tended for the protection of himself and his comrades. His 
body was here committed to the earth, and from this the field 
of his fame his spirit went up to the God who gave it, 

" Disdaining fear and deeming light the cost 
Of life iUelf, iu glorious battle lost." 

The trophies of the day were fifteen hundred excellent rifles 
— three hundred and fifty guns — one hundred and fifty swords 
and dirks — two medicine chests, one of which was valued at 
$1,500 — thirteen wagons with complete ec[uipments of harness 
and horses — a box of English guineas, worth seventy-five 
thousand dollars, and eight hundred and fifty soldiers, with 
their General, Donald McDonald, were taken prisoners of war. 

And now, my countrymen, you may ask who was the leader 
of the American forces in this memorable engagement. Would 
that I could so interrogate history as to give you a satisfacto- 
ry answer to this much vexed question. I will not pretend to 
deny that the veil of doubt overhangs it, but involving as it 
does the fame of a gallant soldier of New Hanover, and be- 
lieving as I do, that alike history and tradition point to him 
as the leading actor in the drama of that day, I shall not hes- 
itate in the endeavor to vindicate the claims of Col. Alexander 
Lillington to the first honors of the field. It is admitted 
by the ablest advocates of the antagonistic claim of Col. 
Caswell, that they both were Colonels of the recently or- 
ganized battalions of minute men, one of which had been 
raised in the Newbern, and the other in the New Hanover 
district, and that both were appointed on tlie same day, by 
the same authority, to the rank which they held. It is said, 



u 

however, that Col. Caswell must l^ave assumed the command 
on the day of the battle, for the reason that he carried upon 
the field eight hundred men, while Col. Lillington command- 
ed the much inferior number of two hundred minute men. 
I know of no priqciple of military precedence, however, which 
entitles officers of equal grade to outrank each other simply 
because the one maybe in command of a force numerically supe- 
rior to the other. No such rule has been shown to have existed 
at this period, and if any such did exist, I am yet to be informed 
what fixed difierence in numbers created this superior claim 
to command in any given case. We are told, however, that Col. 
Purviance, of Brunswick, wrote to the Wilmington Com- 
mittee three days before the battle, apprizing them of what 
had been done, and what was to be done on the Cape Fear, 
and adds : " I have acquainted Col. Caswell with what I have 
done, and requested his assistance." Granted — but this, to 
my mind, fails to prove the superiority in command of Col. 
Caswell ; and indeed shows nothing more than the communi- 
cation to him of important intelligence, doubtless already 
known to Col. Lillington, and the desire that the former 
would come to the assistance of the latter, as an engagement 
with the enemy was then anticipated. We are furthermore 
told that Gen. Moore, in a letter written the day after the bat- 
tle, remarks that ''the tories, led on by McLeod, advanced 
with intrepidity to attack Col. Caswell, who was entrenched 
on advantageous ground ;" and that in a subsequent letter of 
the same date, he states that Farquard Campbell, a notable 
tory, " was carried a prisoner to the camp of Col. Caswell." — 
But what do statements, such as these, establish ? Surely it 
will not be denied that an attack was made on the forces led 
on by Lillington, as well as on those commanded by Caswell ; 
and if a prominent tory or traitor was carried to the camp of 
the latter, may not this have been an accidental circumstance^ 
wholly unconnected with the suj)eriority in command of the 
one over the other ? But superadded to all this, the records 
of the Provincial Congress, which convened in April, 1776, 
are cited to show^ that on the 12th of that month, a resolution 
was passed in these words : " Besolved, That the thanks 



of this Oongress be given to Col. Caswell and the brave oflfi- 
cers and soldiers under his command, for the very essential 
service by them rendered the country at the battle of Moore's 
Creek." It is true that this resolution was passed, but we 
know not by what influences its passage was accomplished. I 
hesitate not to aver, however, that it was ungenerously unjust 
to Col. Lillington, thus to have omitted the mention of his name, 
and though it has been said that he never complained of this, 
it has been well answered, that " he never complained, because 
he was a patriot and not a soldier of fortune ; because he fought 
for the freedom of his country, and not for his personal re- 
nown." Moreover, Col. Caswell officially reported the battle 
on the 29 th of February, to Cornelius Harnett, President of 
the Council appointed to administer the affairs of the Province, 
and his conduct in so doing would seem to involve a breach 
of military etiquette and discipline^ as that report should have 
been properly made to Gen. Moore, who was the admitted su- 
perior in command of both himself and Col. Lillington. It 
may be, however, that this circumstance had its effect with 
Congress, and when we blend with this the fact that Caswell 
had been elected to the same Congress, though not at that 
time a member, to say nothing of his more extended and na- 
tional reputation, it is not difficult to understand this seeming 
recognition of his superiority over Col. Lillington. 

Thus, then, I have frankly presented the prominent points 
of the claim preferred in behalf of Col. Caswell, and in so do^ 
ing, have endeavored to show that the reasons advanced for* 
its support are insufficient to sustain it. But in further an- 
swer to the argument urged in his favor, I state that Col. Lil- 
lington was in his own district, and the rule waSj that command- 
ers of equal grade ranked their peers in their respective 
districts. If this is denied, I challenge proof to the contrary^ 
and in corroboration of what is said, I adopt the argument of 
analogy, and point you to the historical fact that, when at tk 
subsequent day, the armament of Sir Peter Parker was in the 
Cape Fear, Gen. Ashe, of this district, ranked Gen. Bryauj 
who led the Newborn forces on their march to Wilmington^ 
Nor let it be forgotten that the unwritten history of this bat-* 



16 

He hereabouts, and the truthful tradition of New Hanover 
award to Col. Lillington the chief glory of the conflict. From 
the lips of one known to many around me — whose patriotic 
valor and varied virtues endeared him to all who knew him — 
who was near fourteen years of age when this battle was fought, 
and who gave himself to the revolutionary service of his coun- 
try — who was ever revered as the Bayard of his day, " with- 
out fear and without reproach ;" aye, even from the lips of the 
late Col. Samuel Ashe, we have it that Lillington was the 
Great Leader of the contest. 

But whatever may be said in support of this counter claim^ 
the recorded fact can never be disproved, that when Col. Cas- 
well came upon the ground^ he found it pre-occupied by Col. 
Lillington, with the Wilmington battalion of minute men : — 
there he had taken his position, in the front of the foe, alike 
the post of honor and of danger, and there he had resolved 
with the spirit of Leonidas of old, to make another Thermo- 
pylae, if necessary, by the immolation of himself and his com- 
rades in arms, on the altar of his country. Here, too, it was, 
that he wore so gallantly that livery of liberty, a portion of 
which I this day exhibit to you. With this weapon of war, a 
cherished memento of the field, he went into the fight resolved 
upon " liberty or death," the heroic motto of this crescent 
which he wore in his hat, like a guiding star on the dark day 
of battle, and knowing, as he did, the power of example, we 
may well imagine him calling on his brave volunteers to fol- 
low where their commander might lead, and like Henry the 
IV., at Ivry, saying to them : 

" And if my standarrt-bcarer fall, as fall full well he may, 

For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody fray, — 

Press where you sec my white plume sliine amid the ranks of war^ 

And be your oriflamme to-day, the helmet of Navarre."' 

But, my countrymen, I forbear to press this point, and let 
it not be supposed from aught that I have said, that I am in- 
clined to disparage the character of Richard Caswell, or im- 
pair his claims on your gratitude as citizens of North Carolina; 
Far be it from me to do the slightest injustice to a man who 
so gloriously distinguished himself in the service of his coun- 
try, and of whom from the day of his opposition to the Stamp 
Act in 1165, to the hour when, with the helmet unloosed from 



It 

his brow, he fell in the Senate Chamber with his robes of of- 
fice around him, it might ever be said, " the State has no 
worthier son than he." In the toils of war, and in the coun- 
cils of peace, he ever shone forth like a " steadfast planet" to 
guide and to cheer the onward progress of his country ; and 
what matters it, whether he commanded at the great battle of 
the Bridge or not, when none will deny that he won by his 
gallantry here, such laurels as any soldier might be proud to 
wear ? 

But while I speak thus of heroes such as these, let me not 
forget to do deserved justice to the merits and the memory of 
Gen. James Moore — the commander-in-chief of all the Amer- 
ican forces then in the field. It is true that, owing to una- 
voidable delays attendant on his descent of the river, he was 
not present at the battle ; but to him belongs the cardinal 
merit of having given such directions to the movements of 
the army, as greatly conduced to the ultimate success which 
attended us in the contest. He, it was, who posted Lillington 
at the Bridge, and it was his sagacity as a strategist, which 
discerned the importance of occupying this position. By all 
he was admitted to be more eminent in the profession of arms 
than any man of his day in North Carolina ; and when we 
remember his uniform bold advocacy of the cause of his coun- 
try, and the promptness with which he moved against the 
forces of McDonald, and turned him from his line of march, 
surely none will dispute his commanding claims upon the 
grateful homage of our hearts. 

And now, my friends, that the storm of battle which once 
raged so wildly on this field has passed away, let us yield to 
the generous impulses of that magnanimity which so well be- 
comes the victor, and forbear to sit in judgment too sternly 
upon the early errors of the clans of Caledonia. Let us re- 
member that aliens, as they were, to our soil and our lan- 
guage, well might they be strangers to our feelings ; and ed- 
ucated, as they were, in a faith which inculcated loyalty to 
their monarch as a part of their religion, it was but natural 
that they should rally to the support of King George, the 
Great Chief of the clans. Let us remember how, in many 



battles since, waged for the riglits and honor of our country, 
they have stood shoulder to shoulder with the sons of our soil, 
breasting "with hearts of controversy," the crimson 
currents that have flowed over many a bloody field, and aid- 
ed in securing to the banner of the Kepublic, the most glori- 
ous victories. 

And let us not forget that, to the efforts of a son of this 
same Caledonia_, a Scotchman, good and true, as ever fought 
for " kirk or covenant," but whose heart is as loyal to his adopt- 
ed mother as any son who treads her soil, we are, perhaps, as 
much indebted for this celebration, as to any other cause what- 
ever. His pen but recently pointed your attention to this 
bright page in your history, and evoking, as it did, from 
the past, the spirit of your sires, your hearts at once caught 
the inspiration of that grateful patriotism which has j)rompt- 
ed your presence here. 

But, my countrymen, let us not fail in a proper comprehen- 
sion and appreciation of the blessings which resulted to our 
country from the battle at Moore's Creek Bridge. The mere 
military success of this achievement, though altogether glo- 
rious in itself, was but as the small dust in the balance when 
weighed against other and better benefits which accrued to 
the suffering cause of freedom. Among the grand results 
which followed the event, we at once discover that it prevent- 
ed the union of the Royalists with the English forces that were 
soon to concentrate tliemselves in the river Cape Fear, and 
thereby gave the death blow to the planned invasion of the 
State — an invasion projected by Martin, approved by the Earl 
of Dartmouth, and which was to be consummated by the 
bloody hands of Cornwallis and Clinton, But not only was 
this invasion and the consequent subjugation of North Caroli- 
na, if not of the whole South, prevented ; but the ranks of the 
Royalists were thinned — the clans were dispersed, and tory- 
ism was taught a lesson from which it learnt how impotent 
are all the combinations of tyranny in a contest with those 
who strike for liberty. Nor was this all, it gave courage, con- 
fidence and military experience to that brave phalanx of pa- 
triots who triumphed here^ and who had never come under 



m 

fire before in their lives. Its moral influence told like an elec- 
tric sliock on the heart of the whole country — with command- 
ing power it sped over the land, imparting a resolute spirit of 
resistance to the desponding and ofttimes dismayed hearts of 
the patriots, and reaching the councils of the State, developed 
itself in the first legislative recommendation of a Declaration 
of Independence by the National Congress, which was made 
on the continent of America ! It flashed out upon the dark- 
ness of that period with the cheering brightness of a new-risen 
sun, and wreathed the cloud that overhung us with a brilliant 
bow of promise. From that day the banner of our country 
went forward, until its ample folds were "fanned by conquest's 
conquering wing," and the eagle of the Republic soared aloft 
in his flight, until that banner and that bird became the proud- 
est symbol of freedom the sun in all his course ever looked 
upon. The struggle here made was truly '^ pro aris etfocis'^ 
for our altars and our firesides, and if the mercenary foe against 
whom we waged that war had triumphed, the dread tidings 
of our defeat would have swept like a moral sirocco over the" 
State, withering and blasting its every energy — the combined 
forces of the enemy would have marched like another Gothicf 
scourge of God over the heart of Carolina, hunting the life- 
blood from its every vein, and a triumphant shout would 
have gone up from their ranks — 

" As though the fiends from Heaven that fell, 
Had pealed the banner cry of hell." 

This was the pioneer struggle with our gigantic enemy, and 
as the oak is born of the acorn, so this battle was the germ of 
a series of glorious events. Signalized, as it waS;, as the first 
victory over the Groliah of tyranny, it inaugurated tliat series 
of triumphs which came upon the world, in gradually unfold- 
ing grandeur until they found their culmination in that event 
which sent up the proud hurrah of victory from the memora- 
ble plains of Torktown. Glory, undying glory, my country- 
men, to the brave men who here fought the first victorious 
fight for freedom. 

Their bosoms they bared to the glorious istrife, 

Their oath, 'twas recorded on high, 
To prevail in a cause that was dearer than life, 

Ot crushed in its ruins to die." 



20 

But, my countrymen, while we bring our oblations of grat- 
itude to this slirine of freedom, and stand, as it were, upon 
the dust of those who here so nobly fought, let us not forget, 
in this hour of reverent patriotism, to breathe the names of 
other ascended patriots, who struck redeeming blows for the 
land we live in. The serpent of tyranny which had stolen 
into our Eden was here " scotched, not killed," and it was 
necessary that other men at other times should jilace their 
armed heel upon the reptile, and crush out its venom and its 
strength. Such men, God, in his mercy, ever raised up for 
your country in the hour of her exigency, and no where were 
they found more numerously, or did they bear themselves 
more gallantly, than in the Cape Fear country, well worthy 
of being called the Gibraltar of North Carolina. Fain would 
I speak of those partisan warriors who, though attended with 
but little of the "pride and pomj:), and circumstance of glorious 
war," were ever striking stalwart blows for the rescue of their 
country, and in their frequent brilliant skirmishes with the 
marauding tory, were exhibiting acts of heroism, which, if 
known to the world, would have given them the readiest pass- 
ports to fame. Time would fail me to tell their names, or to 
blazon and to amplify their deeds. 

Go with me at least, however, to one of cheir fields of fame 
— that field where a battle was fought at the close of the Rev- 
olution, second only in importance to the Cape Fear re- 
gion — to that conflict which stood out so gloriously on 
the threshold of that Revolution, and which we now com- 
memorate. I point you to the battle of Elizabetlitown, 
fought in July, 1781 — the gloomiest period of the war, 
when Wilmington was calamitously cursed by the presence 
of the British under Major Craige, and when her sister town 
of Fayetteville was beleaguered by the torics, more than 
three hundred of whom had also occupied Elizabetlitown, and 
sent the Whigs of that section as plundered fugitives from 
their homes. It was at a time like this, that a Spartan band 
of sixty high-souled patriots_, among Avhom were Owen and 
Morehead, and Robeson and Ervin, of Bladen^ marched under 
their chosen commander, Col Thomas Brown, of the same 



01 

county, to the attack of this stronghold of toryism, then held 
by Col. Slingsby, who had formerly been taken prisoner at 
the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. Their temporary refuge 
had been on this side of the river, and when at night they reach- 
ed it and found no means of transportation at hand, promptly 
and boldly they plunged into the stream. With difficulty 
and with danger it is crossed, and now that the Rubicon is 
passed, they move with stealthy step upon the foe. With no 
drums beating, with no banners flying, and with naught but 
the slogan war cry of " victory or death" to stir their heroic 
hearts, they storm his Avell defended outposts, drive in his 
sentinels, and then they fought like brave men, long and well. 
They conquered, and in that midnight hour, with no light to 
guide them but the flashing of their swords, and the blaze of 
their musketry, they wreaked their righteous vengeance upon 
the ofibuding head of their enemy, who fled "like a rabble 
rout," leaving upon the field their slaughtered leaders — God- 
den and Slingsby. Thus was achieved a victory which shat- 
tered the strength of the tories — thrilled the whig heart of 
the Cape Fear with joy — and exhibited a degree of skill and 
valor only surpassed by the patriotism which called them in- 
to action. But I pursue this historic episode no farther, nor 
would I have invoked your attention to this event in our his- 
tory, but for my desire to give prominence to the merits of 
those whose intrepid patriotism accomplished an achievement 
in arms Avhich, like the battle of the Bridge, is much too little 
known, and to which no adequate appreciation has ever 
been extended. 

And more especially do I desire to do something of justice 
to the memory of Col. Thomas Brown, the uniform and un- 
terrified soldier of this country during the dark days of the 
Revolution. Here is that loved and trusty sword, left as a 
rich legacy to his worthy descendants, which he bore from 
the field of his renown, wet with the blood of the enemies of 
his country. Look on it, ye countrymen of his, and you will 
find— 

" There 's blood upon that dinted sword, 
A stain its steel can never lose." 

He was every inch a nobleman of nature, and among all 



that high priesthood of patriots who worshipped at the altar 
of our country's freedom, there came none of more unselfish 
aims or more heroic courage than he — he who lived beloved 
and honored by all who knew him, and who died leaving no 
stain or shade to darken the fair field of his unsullied escutch- 
eon. 

And now, my countrymen, my mission is well nigh accom- 
plished. I have read to you from that bright but bloody 
page in our country's history, which tells of the trials and the 
triumphs of those who made the tented field the scene of their 
glory. Grladly would I turn the leaf and pass to that page 
whereon is written the not less glorious story of those civic 
heroes, who, in the Revolutionary councils of the State, gave 
form and texture to our government, and have made our an- 
nals radiant with their wisdom and their gallantry. Right 
gladly would I present to your admiring gaze, your Hooper 
and your Harnett, and other " bright particular stars" of your 
section, and of your State, who shone out so brilliantly from 
the darkness which then brooded over our political firmament. 
But the waning hour Avhich your kindness has allowed me, 
warns me to forbear. 

Suffice it, then, to say that even such as I have feebly 
sketched to you, were the men who lived in the heroic age of 
our land — an age illustrated by deeds worthy of the proudest 
epic the historic muse can chant. Standing, as we do, far re- 
moved from that day of doubt and danger, and reaping, as 
we are, a rich harvest of blessings from that tree of liberty 
which they planted in this good land, and watered by their 
blood, little do we know of the terrors and the trials which 
they braved and bore in upholdiDg the holy cause of liberty. 
I tell you, my countrymen, that if such men had lived in the 
far gone ages of antiquity, their deeds would have made them 
demigods, and their fame Avould have carried them to the 
proudest places in the Pantheon of history. Shall we, then, 
dishonor by forgetfulness that " breed of noble bloods," who 
alike in camp and council so gloriously championed the cause 
of our country ? Shall we, like degenerate sons, bastardise the 
blood of such sires by the disloyalty of ingratitude ? One by 



23 

one they have gone down to the dust they rescued from op- 
pression, but from every sepulchral sod which covers their 
ashes, methinks I hear a voice calling upon us to commemorate 
their deeds, and to cherish their memories. I catch that call 
and hear it to you this day, my county men. By all the glorious 
memories of the past, hy all the cheering anticipations of the 
future, I conjure you to perpetuate the renown of your illus- 
trious dead, and to make classic the scenes of their toils and 
their triumphs. 

Let us, then, this day draw aside that veil of ohlivion which 
has too long shrouded their worth and their fame. Let us 
build high, at least, that monument, the foundation stone of 
which we this day lay, in honor of a victory " ennobled by a 
noble cause." 

In the colder clime of the North, they erect the monument 
to the pilgrim and the patriot, and from the soil of Bunker 
Hill, a grateful memorial of those who there went through the 
baptism of blood in the service of their country, now rises to 
Heaven. But upon that soil the banner of King George tri- 
umphed. And shall we of the sunnier South, not rear a like 
memorial on the ground where that banner drooped, and was 
down-trodden in defeat ? Shall we refuse the poor pittance 
of our treasure to those who gave us their blood, and were 
ready to give us their martyred lives ? Shame, eternal shame 
upon us, my countrymen, if we are guilty of such ingratitude. 
Let, then, that structure which we this day give to this hallow- 
ed earth, rise in sublime simplicity to tell of the glory of the 
past, and the gratitude of the present, and as we often write 
the virtues of the departed on the urns which hold their ashes, 
so let this monumental tablet be inscribed with the names of 
our heroes, and the record of an achievement, which Kome, 
in her palmiest day, would have written high in the chroni- 
cles of glory. On the summit of the mountain which over- 
looks that world-renowned defile where the brave Grecian 
withstood the myrmidons of Persia, the eye of the traveler 
looks upon a monument on which these words are written : — 
"^ Go, stranger, tell the Lacedemonians we have obeyed their 
laws, and we are here" So let that monument which on this 



24 

t 
spot we build, proclaim to all the world the prompt obedience ^ '. 

which our brave forefathers yielded to their country's bidding, i^"") 

and show how — 

" When their country called, and called in wild despair, 
The patriots came, and all their soul was here.'' 

Let us, my countrymen, ever hallow in our hearts, the spot 
on which we stand, — let the monument we build on it be an 
altar of freedom where we may ever rekindle the expiring 
fires of patriotism ; and hither, like Hamilcar of old, let us 
come with our children, and make them swear, even on such 
an altar, undying hostility to the enemies of our country. 

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